Updated: September 16, 2023

Following Roger Stern, Bill Mantlo took over the writing with issue #245 ( March 1980 ). Among the adversaries Mantlo created for the series were the U-Foes and the Soviet Super-Soldiers. Mantlo's "Crossroads of Eternity" stories, which ran through issues #300â€"313 ( Oct. 1984 â€" Nov.1985 ), explored the idea that Banner had suffered child abuse. Later, The Incredible Hulk writers Peter David and Greg Pak called these stories an influence on their approaches to the series. After five years, Mantlo left the title to write Alpha Flight, while Alpha Flight writer John Byrne took over the series and left it after six issues, claiming, "I took on the Hulk after a discussion with editor in chief Jim Shooter, in which I mentioned some of the things I would like to do with that character, given the chance. He told me to do whatever was necessary to get on the book, he liked my ideas so much. I did, and once installed he immediately changed his mind 'You can't do this!' Six issues was as much as I could take." Byrne's final issue featured the wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross. Byrne had done a seventh issue, consisting entirely of one panel pages. It was eventually published in Marvel Fanfare #29.

Al Milgrom briefly succeeded Byrne before new regular writer Peter David took over with issue #331 ( May 1987 ), the start of an 11 year tenure. He returned to the Stern and Mantlo abuse storyline, expanding the damage caused, and depicting Banner as suffering dissociative identity disorder. In issue #377 he merged Banner, the green Hulk, and the grey Hulk into a single being with the unified personality, intelligence, and powers of all three. David claimed he had been planning this from the beginning of his tenure on the series, and had held off so that he could make the readers have an emotional attachment to the grey Hulk. David worked with numerous artists over his run on the series, including Dale Keown, Todd McFarlane, Sam Kieth, Gary Frank, Liam Sharp, Terry Dodson, Mike Deodato, George Perez, and Adam Kubert.

In 1998, David followed editor Bobbie Chase's suggestion to kill Betty Ross. In the introduction to the Hulk trade paperback Beauty and the Behemoth, David said that his wife had recently left him, providing inspiration for the storyline. Marvel executives used Ross' death as an opportunity to push the idea of bringing back the Savage Hulk. David disagreed, leading to his parting ways with Marvel. His last issue of The Incredible Hulk was ( vol. 2 ) #467 ( Aug. 1998 ), his 137th. Also in 1998, Marvel relaunched The Rampaging Hulk as a standard comic book rather than as a comics magazine.